Conservative Management of Hip and Knee Osteoarthritis: Feasibility and Acceptability of a Multidisciplinary Case Conference Model

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a prevalent, costly and often debilitating chronic condition. Whilst clinical guidelines for OA recommend the conservative management strategies of exercise and weight loss, such interventions remain significantly underutilised in Australia. As such, there is a need for new models of care that facilitate the translation of clinical guidelines for OA into real-world practice. Research question: The overall aim of this thesis was to investigate the feasibility and acceptability of a novel multidisciplinary model of care for the conservative management of hip and knee OA within a community setting. Methods: Two separate studies were conducted, which are presented in two thesis chapters. The first study, presented in Chapter 4, was a qualitative study that aimed to investigate patient and clinician perspectives of a multidisciplinary model of care to conservatively manage hip and knee OA within a community setting. The findings of this study were used to make modifications and adjustments to the proposed model of care before implementing the model within the context of a pilot study. The second study, presented in Chapter 5, was a mixed-methods pilot study that aimed to investigate the feasibility and acceptability of a multidisciplinary model of care to conservatively manage hip and knee OA within a community setting. Major conclusion: Overall, the multidisciplinary model of care was feasible and acceptable to both patients with OA and clinicians. Future research should investigate the efficacy and cost effectiveness of this model of care in larger, more diverse cohorts when compared with a control group and other models of care for OA.